[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 4 (Monday, January 27, 1997)]
[Pages 72-73]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on the Emergency With Respect to Terrorists Who 
Threaten the Middle East Peace Process

January 21, 1997

To the Congress of the United States:

    Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) 
provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, 
prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President 
publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice 
stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the 
anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent the 
enclosed notice to the Federal Register for publication, stating that 
the emergency declared with respect to grave acts of violence committed 
by foreign terrorists that disrupt the Middle East peace process, is to 
continue in effect beyond January 23, 1997. The first notice continuing 
this emergency was published in the Federal Register last year on 
January 22, 1996.
    The crisis with respect to the grave acts of violence committed by 
foreign terrorists that threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace 
process that led to the declaration of a national emergency, on January 
23, 1995, has not been resolved. Terrorist groups continue to engage in 
activities with the purpose or effect of threatening the Middle East 
peace process, and which are hostile to U.S. interests in the region. 
Such actions threaten vital interests of the national security, foreign 
policy, and economy of the United States. For these reasons, I have 
determined that it is necessary to maintain in force the broad 
authorities necessary to deny any financial support from the United 
States for foreign terrorists that threaten to disrupt the Middle East 
peace process.
      
      
                                            William J. Clinton

The White House,
January 21, 1997.

[[Page 73]]